Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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May 4, 2009

More toll roads ahead in W.Va.?

By CHARLES OWENS

CHARLESTON — The Mountain State could have another toll road as early as 2010, according to state Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox.

While the 88-mile West Virginia Turnpike extending between Princeton and Charleston is currently the state’s only toll road, the Mon-Fayette expressway corridor in Monongalia County is now proposed as a toll road, Mattox said.

In addition to the Mon-Fayette corridor, Mattox said the county commissions of Putnam and Mason counties also are endorsing a toll road for a 14-mile section of U.S Route 35. Mattox said U.S. Route 522 in Morgan County also is being considered as a future toll corridor, but the proposal would require the support of the Morgan County Commission.

“Right now, the only existing toll road in West Virginia is the West Virginia Turnpike,” Mattox said. “But we are working on the Mon-Fayette corridor and U.S. 35. So as early as 2010, West Virginia could have another toll road.”

Mattox said state highway officials met just last week with officials in Pennsylvania to discuss the Mon-Fayette expressway. The four-mile road begins just outside of Morgantown and extends to the state line of Pennsylvania. Mattox said the expressway is already a toll road in Pennsylvania. Mattox said the West Virginia segment of the road should be opened by the fall of 2010.

Tolls are being increasingly used to develop highway projects across the nation, Mattox said.

“The majority of the new highways constructed in this country over the past 10 years are toll roads,” Mattox said. “We are looking everywhere we can to find highway funds. But the core funding we get from highways and what is derived from the state road fund through taxes has been stagnant for a number of years. So we are looking at other ways to fund highway construction.”

Talk of another toll increase on the West Virginia Turnpike has angered many citizens, elected officials and business leaders in southern West Virginia. A decision on the proposed turnpike toll increase is expected by June.

Members of the West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority will be meeting Thursday at the Mercer County Vocational Tech Center in Princeton for their regular May meeting. The proposed turnpike toll increase is on the board’s agenda.

Thursday’s meeting precedes a May 22 public hearing in Mercer County on the proposed turnpike toll increase. The public hearing will be held on Friday, May 22, from 4 to 8:30 p.m. in the courtroom of Circuit Court Judge Derek C. Swope at the Mercer County Courthouse.

The public hearing will be conducted in two phases. The initial phase will begin at 4 p.m., and will involve a public forum-type setting during which attendees can view all available data, interact directly with Parkways representatives and ask questions individually of authority representatives. The actual public hearing — where citizens will be allowed to address members of the authority one by one and on the record — will begin at 6 p.m.

Mattox said 2019 is still the projected date for the turnpike bonds to be paid off. Mattox said a decision will be made at that time by a future administration as to whether the turnpike tolls will be removed in 2019.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com





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